The Challenge
Why Reporting Takes So Long
Reports built by hand each month tie up skilled people and arrive too late to act on.
Is This Relevant?
Is This Use Case Relevant to Your Organization?
The people, moments and signals that usually bring this need to the surface.
Relevant Teams
- Finance and leadership teams
- Business analysts
- IT and data teams
Common Triggers
- Month-end reporting delays
- New reporting demands from leadership
- A new BI tool
Warning Signs
- Days spent preparing each report
- Frequent corrections after reports are issued
- Different versions of the same report
Typical Environments
- Business applications, databases and spreadsheets
- Cloud and on-premises data platforms
Benefits
What Better Looks Like
Intended benefits. Actual results depend on your environment and starting point.
Our Approach
A Practical Approach
Built in increments, so useful reports arrive early and improve over time. Each stage is tailored to your environment.
Assess
Review data sources, reports, definitions and data quality.
Prioritize
Rank what you find by business impact, effort and risk, and agree where to start.
Design
Agree the data model, definitions and priority reports.
Implement
Connect sources, build the data platform and automate reports.
Validate and Optimize
Check numbers against source systems with business owners.
Solutions
Solutions That Can Help
The solutions that address this use case, starting with the primary one.
Services
How Signisys Can Support You
The services that deliver the approach, from the first assessment to ongoing improvement.
Technology
Technology Options
Where technology fits in the approach. Specific platforms and partner status are confirmed for each engagement.
Before You Start
What to Consider Before Getting Started
A little preparation makes the first assessment faster and its findings more reliable.
- Which reports to automate first
- Data sources and their reliability
- Definitions and calculations
- Who maintains the reports
- Who will own the work and act on recommendations
- Engagement model and ongoing support
Measuring Success
How to Measure Success
Illustrative measures. Agree a baseline first, and keep targets separate from measured results.
Reporting Time
Time to produce each report.
Manual Effort
Hours spent preparing reports.
Report Errors
Corrections after release.
Dashboard Usage
People using the dashboards.
Our Approach
How We Deliver Results
How Signisys works, from the first assessment to handover and beyond.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this use case.
Which reports should we automate first?
Start with reports that take the most effort, run most often or matter most to decisions.
Will automated reports match what we produce today?
Automated reports are reconciled against existing ones before they replace them, and differences are explained.
What information is needed to get started?
The reports produced today, how they are prepared, the data sources behind them and who uses them.
Which environments does this apply to?
Business applications, databases and spreadsheets, on cloud or on-premises data platforms.
How is progress measured?
Agree a baseline for measures such as reporting time, manual effort, report errors and dashboard usage, then track them over time.
Related Content
Related Outcomes, Use Cases and Guides
Where to go next: the outcome this use case supports, nearby scenarios, technology partners and practical guides.
Business Outcome
Put AI and Automation to Work
Problem Explainer
What Causes Slow Management Reporting? Common Problems and Warning Signs
Coming soon
How-To Guide
How to Automate Business and Management Reporting: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide
Coming soon
Checklist
Automate Business and Management Reporting Checklist: What IT Teams Should Assess
Coming soon
Decision Guide
How to Choose the Right Approach to Automate Business and Management Reporting: Options and Trade-Offs
Coming soon
Automate Your Reporting
Share your current challenges and priorities with Signisys to explore an approach suited to your environment.